HHS downsizing begins amid RFK Jr. 'Make America Healthy Again' push: 'Win-win for taxpayers'

Mass layoffs reportedly began Tuesday in Health and Human Services agencies as part of the department's "restructuring" to align with President Donald Trump's executive order, "Implementing the President’s ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ Workforce Optimization Initiative," as agencies undergo merges and significant downsizing.

The restructuring is expected to bring down 82,000 federal health employees to 62,000.

The department has been preparing to make major cuts in recent weeks across its health agencies, especially pertaining to administrative costs and DEI-related spending.

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According to the HHS, the layoffs "will save taxpayers $1.8 billion per year" and "streamline" functions of the department while ensuring that essential services like Medicare and Medicaid continue without disruption. The announcement of the layoffs came last week.

The HHS oversees several major agencies that will likely see some sort of restructuring: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Administration for Community Living (ACL), Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR).

"We aren't just reducing bureaucratic sprawl. We are realigning the organization with its core mission and our new priorities in reversing the chronic disease epidemic," HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. said in a statement. "This Department will do more – a lot more – at a lower cost to the taxpayer."

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The new plan will reduce the number of HHS divisions from 28 to 15. One of the key changes includes the creation of the Administration for a Healthy America (AHA), which will combine several agencies, including the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to "break down artificial divisions between similar programs." In addition, HHS is reorganizing its regional offices, cutting them down from 10 to 5.

Other changes, according to the HHS, include the creation of a new assistant secretary for enforcement to tackle fraud and abuse in federal health programs.

Another major focus of the restructuring is addressing America’s growing "epidemic of chronic illness." The plan focuses on clean food, water, and air, while working to eliminate environmental toxins that contribute to health problems. The CDC will also gain additional authority by absorbing the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR), which handles national disaster and public health emergencies.

"Over time, bureaucracies like HHS become wasteful and inefficient even when most of their staff are dedicated and competent civil servants," Kennedy said. "This overhaul will be a win-win for taxpayers and for those that HHS serves. That’s the entire American public, because our goal is to Make America Healthy Again."

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The Associated Press reported Tuesday morning there were hundreds of federal health employees wrapped around the HHS building in two lines to find out whether they still had a job. 

Former FDA Commissioner Dr. Robert Califf wrote in a LinkedIn Post Tuesday morning that the "FDA as we've known it is finished," adding that "most of the leaders with institutional knowledge and a deep understanding of product development and safety no longer employed."

"I believe that history will see this a huge mistake. I will be fad if I'm proven wrong, but even then there is no good reason to treat people this way. It will be interesting to hear from the new leadership how they plan to put ‘Humpty Dumpty’ back together again," Califf wrote.